Wallace & Gromit are no strangers to adventure. Already the pair have shared A Grand Day Out, tried on The Wrong Trousers, and narrowly escaped A Close Shave, to name but a few of their previous exploits. But the experiences of the mild-mannered inventor and his longsuffering canine companion in a series of animated shorts (and one feature film) by Aardman haven’t been Grand Adventures until now.

All that is about to change, of course, with the release of Telltale’s four-part episodic series starring Nick Park’s beloved claymation characters. With the season's launch closing fast, time was running out for an early look into the new gaming world of Wallace & Gromit, but the chance to try out a playable demo of the debut episode recently was just the grand opportunity we were looking for.

Somewhat surprisingly, at first glance there appear to be more differences than similarities to Telltale’s previous Sam & Max and Strong Bad series. Behind the faux-plasticine exterior, however, lies… well, even more surprising differences! Thankfully, beneath all the changes remains the same unmistakable level of quality and style that we’ve come to expect from these episodic pioneers.

Regrettably (if entirely understandably), Grand Adventures is not done using real clay and stop-motion, but rather an adapted form of the same 3D engine behind the company’s other games. The good news is that the bright, colourful graphics are delightful in their own right, with a wide range of resolutions available (including widescreen support) making the visuals quite crisp, with plenty of detail but just enough “flaws” to give it an intended hand-crafted feel. On the one hand, you can admire the wood grain in a curbside bench or the brick texture of the town homes on West Wallaby Street, and yet also pick out distinct “fingerprints” or pockmarks in the characters where the imaginary sculptor has gotten a little careless. It’s a nice touch that provides an effective balance between an otherwise-polished presentation and the human element that fans of the animated shorts are used to.

But never mind the graphics, right? Even from here, I can sense a first hint of public angst over the unknown involvement of Peter Sallis, the wonderful voice actor behind Wallace’s TV persona. So does he reprise his role here? I’d love to soothe people’s minds with a resounding “Yes!”, but since I can’t do so honestly, I’ll have to settle for an unequivocal assurance that his replacement here does an excellent job. I’m not crossing my fingers, biting my tongue, or covering my “but” (so to speak). It’s true. So true, in fact, that I had to verify with Telltale that it really wasn't Sallis just to be sure. Rest easy in knowing, then, that Wallace’s shy nature and absent-minded brilliance still shine through the vocal delivery here.

Where the changes really start to become apparent is in the control scheme. To date, Telltale has made exclusively point-and-click offerings, but Grand Adventures alters that, primarily to accommodate the simultaneous development for the Xbox 360 through Live Arcade. But before anyone goes off on a tangent about dumbing down for consoles, the game nevertheless plays out like a fairly traditional adventure. The keyboard is used to navigate the playable character, including both Wallace and Gromit at various times, but this is as easy as moving them directionally from a camera-relative perspective. Super-simple stuff, particularly at the relaxed pace of the characters on screen. There were some minor control issues in the demo I played, but improvements are still being made before the finished episode’s release, so these are likely to be eliminated before then.

Control within each screen, meanwhile, remains a mouse-driven exercise of highlighting relevant objects and interacting with them accordingly, either through the contextual default action or applying appropriate inventory items. The demo's interface included an interesting and rather unusual blend of onscreen icons and active hotspots, but this too is being fine-tuned before release, so any early details I could offer are still subject to change for the better.

Telltale is also considering adding gamepad support to the PC version, which I strongly (ahem!) encourage, though for the purpose of this demo, the option was as yet unavailable. Even so, for anyone concerned about the shift to “direct control”, rest assured that any such fears are unfounded. This is no shift to “twitch” gaming for consoles; if anything, it’s rather a shift back to the simple keyboard mechanics that once dominated the genre long ago.

While dialogue has featured prominently in other Telltale games, Wallace & Gromit takes a much different approach. You can still speak to other characters like the paranoid war vet, Major Crum, or the uppity neighbour, Felicity Flitt, but there are no dialogue trees to choose from, limiting the options for conversation to objects in the immediate vicinity. True to his character, Gromit never says a word, while Wallace does make observations about his surroundings, but always with his usual British reserve. As such, these Grand Adventures look to be less like “comedy” than simply charming, whimsical fun. Gromit’s understated expressions into the camera are still priceless, and Wallace’s zany contraptions will no doubt yield plenty of opportunity for welcome sight gags as the series progresses, but the tone of the new pair will certainly be different from the wisecracking banter of their episodic predecessors.

The demo offered only a small sampling of play, from a short tutorial helping Gromit win a chess game through a few basic inventory puzzles to further Wallace’s new beekeeping venture, before ending in a climactic high-speed (luckily, Gromit can drive) rescue of Wallace from a giant queen bumblebee (it just wouldn’t be a Wallace invention if something didn’t go disastrously wrong, after all). Just as you'd expect from the start of a new series, none of the challenges could be considered difficult, but they were clever and enjoyable, and there were even a few optional tasks to do. The darn demo even had the audacity to end on a cliffhanger. The demo!

And you know what? It worked, as I’m now more eager than ever for the full Grand Adventures, and you should be too. With four episodes in all, each with its own zany standalone premise, there's plenty to look forward to – not as plenty as six episodes or five, but four will certainly do in a pinch. Fortunately, it won’t be long now, as the series debut is coming soon, though an exact date still hasn't been determined. In the meantime, since we don’t want to leave you hanging, read on as we take you even further behind the scenes for a tag team interview with Telltale Games.